Greg Kaminsky started »Occult of Personality« the – maybe first – but for sure the most prominent and constant podcast around the Western Esoteric Tradition in 2005. Since then, he produced more than 200 high quality and well-prepared shows with a large variety of mostly well known, but surely worthwhile occult authors or, as the […]
Interview With Daniel Hornfisher – Traditional, Practical and High Alchemy and Spagyrics in the 21st Century
An absolutely unique treasure in any collection on alchemy is »Löwe und Phönix« (»Lion and Phoenix«) by Daniel Hornfisher, which appeared in Germany during the late 1990ies. Soon after, this practical guide to alchemy was already sold out. Used copies are now being sold on the second hand market for prices up to 20 times […]
Interview with Wilmar Taal on »The Gnome Manuscript« and Gnomes in The Netherlands
There are quite a few books on like every possible subject piling up in the archives of Western occultism, but books on elementals or the little folk – and gnomes in particular – are still rare. The writings by William Mistele come to mind, and I also remember an article in the 90ies in a […]
Occult Art: The First Walpurgis Night – Cantata by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy After A Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In 1799 the German mason, member of the illuminati, natural scientist and first and foremost: poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote the ballad “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” – “The first Walpurgis night”. In a sharp contrast to the Walpurgis night scene in Goethe’s Faust, which pretty much resembles the inquisitor’s cliche about the orgiastic meetings between […]
Florence Farr – The Evocation of Taphthartharath, and the New Woman of the Golden Dawn
In 1896, London, some of the most revered Adepts of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn gathered to perform a ritual written by Aleister Crowley’s teacher, the man who basically introduced Buddhism to the west and institutionalized it in the UK: Allan Bennett. The ritual would make the spirit of Mercury physically manifest before […]
Liber Al Vel Legis – Aiwass, Aleister Crowley and 114 Years »The Book of the Law«
On March 16, 1904, in the King’s Chamber at the Great Pyramid of Giza, Aleister Crowley attempted to show the Sylphs to his wife, Rose Edith Kelly, during the Bornless Ritual. She couldn’t see them, but she entered a trance and repeatedly told her husband: “They’re waiting for you!” Crowley didn’t pay much attention to […]
Nicolas Flamel – The Scribe Living (in) the Alchemist’s Dream
At the core of any legend, there’s a dream. Such as a dream to turn any metal into gold, whether by touch or by other means, and the dream to live for as long as it is possible. But Nicholas Flamel’s dream was different. He did not dream of gold and immortality. Instead, he dreamt […]
Isaac Newton – The Last of the Magicians and the Translator of Tabula Smaragdina
Most people nowadays think about the apple, the tree and the law of gravitation when the name »Newton« is mentioned. But, let’s start with a story about an alchemist and his dog, Diamond. “O Diamond, Diamond, thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done”, said Sir Isaac Newton as he watched his work of twenty […]
First Hermetic International Film Festival: 28 Films as Finalists and the Award Winners 2018
Not less than 28 films, most of them with open, some with more concealed hermetic or esoteric messages or symbols, were shown about two weeks ago on the First Hermetic International Film Festival in Venice, on the 1st and the 2nd of March 2018. A week ago I shared my first impressions and my personal […]
Witch Nettle on the First Hermetic International Film Festival 2018 in Venice
Last week, on the 1st and 2nd of March 2018 the First International Hermetic Film Festival, for short FHIFF 2018, took place in Italy. Overall, 28 films in 10 categories were among the finalists and were shown in 2 days at the »La Casa del Cinema«, in the very city center of Venice, competing for […]